Japanese Maestro Top Prize Winner

COPENHAGEN — Kazufumi Yamashita, 24, from Japan, took first prize in the Malko competition for young orchestra conductors.

The contest, named after Nicolai Malko (1888-1961), a Russian maestro who was a founding father of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, drew 30 competitors from 18 countries. In second place was Jules Van Hessen, 27, from the Netherlands. Third was Nicoletta Conti, 28, of Italy, the first woman ever to place in the competition.